Ghana continues to attract significant development funding from bilateral donors, multilateral institutions and international NGOs. Managing these funds properly is both a legal obligation and a practical necessity — poor financial management can result in fund recovery demands, project suspension, and reputational damage.
Key Financial Management Requirements
Most donors impose specific requirements including: maintaining separate project bank accounts, using donor-approved chart of accounts, submitting periodic financial reports on time, obtaining prior approval for budget reallocations above set thresholds, and maintaining complete documentation for all expenditures.
Common Compliance Failures
- Inadequate documentation for expenditures — missing receipts, invoices or approval records
- Co-mingling of project funds with organisational funds
- Failure to properly account for advances and ensure their timely retirement
- Delays in submitting financial reports to donors
Practical Recommendations
Organisations managing donor funds should invest in simple but effective financial management systems, designate experienced finance staff for project accounting, conduct regular internal reviews of project expenditures, and communicate early with donor programme officers when issues arise.
Audit Satellite provides financial management support, project audits and capacity building services to organisations implementing local and internationally funded projects. We understand donor requirements and can help your organisation achieve and maintain compliance.